(Re)Conceptualizing "Dropouts" from Narratives of Black High School Students in Ontario.

Dei, George J. Sefa

The preliminary findings of an on-going 3-year study examining the experiences of black students in a Canadian public school system are discussed. The project has been using students' narratives of their experiences in an inner-city public school system to explore the influences of race/ethnicity, class, gender, power, and social structures on dropping out of high school. Interviews were conducted with over 100 students, including 22 dropouts. The target was to interview 40 black students from each of 4 high schools. The complex personal stories of black youth presented in the paper show how the dynamics of social difference shape the processes and experiences of public schooling for black youth. It is argued that our understanding of the school dropout dilemma must be grounded in the institutionalized policies and practices of exclusion and marginalization that organize public schooling and structure the off-school environment of some students. (Contains 34 references.) (SLD)